


Given Life

by rayneworld



Series: Another Day AU [1]
Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Missing Children's Incident, Referenced murder, Second person POV, because no one wants to hear the gorey details of child murder, but warning for that, forgive me lord for I am back on my bullshit with the second person pov, headcanon heavy, it's talked about but not in too much detail
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-09 18:45:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19892572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rayneworld/pseuds/rayneworld
Summary: The “missing” children awake in their new bodies. They're all reasonably upset and distressed, but try to help each other out, as well as explore the pizzeria.





	Given Life

**Author's Note:**

> Decided to go back to the beginning and write from there. Doesn't mean I won't write about future events as well, but I wanted to go back and write out this.

Everything is blurry. You can’t see, can’t feel anything - anything besides red hot pain. Faint screams echo in your ears, in your head, and bounce around your skull. Then everything is still, dark, silent, and _dead_. No more pain. No more screaming. 

There’s blackness surrounding you. You can’t even see your own hands. Do you even have a body? You have no feeling, no sense of time. Then an apparition appears from the void, like it was always there, but you just couldn’t see it. Its presence doesn’t startle you.

“Do you want to live?” it asks. It’s voice is so soft you almost don’t hear it, but it also breaks the eternal silence like a stone shattering a window plane. 

“Of course!” you shout.

And just like that, the apparition begins to fade. 

“Wait!” you shout, “I said I want to live! I want to protect my brother.”

But it doesn’t return. You find yourself drawing in fast breaths, panicking, though you’re not even sure you need air. And then the world fizzes out of existence, taking you with it.

You can’t tell if you’re awake, dreaming, or dead. But fragments of pictures come to you between the static of your mind. You see checkered tiles, and posters on the wall. There’s seats in front of you, and you feel taller - higher up - like your on a stage. At the end of your brown face is a big black nose. Freddy? You’re at Freddy’s. You kind of remember this. You died here. Not on this stage, though. You can’t muster any feeling in yourself. You’re just scared and confused. Not scared because you died, scared because you can’t figure out where you are or what’s happening.

You try to make yourself move, but can only do so slowly, and turn your head to the right and to the left, seeing a purple bunny and yellow chicken respectively. Bonnie and Chica? Are you Freddy? You want to lift your hands to your eyes and rub them, but you can’t seem to move your arms. Instead your consciousness fades and you fall into something that feels more like death than sleep.

When you awake again, you still see the same brown muzzle and same black nose. But when you turn to look at Bonnie and Chica, they’re staring back. Bonnie’s eyes flick red, but the color makes you feel more at home than scared. Your brother had red eyes. Didn’t he die too? You hope he’s in a better situation than you. Chica’s eyes flare pink. Did the chicken always have pink eyes? Weren’t they blue before? You never paid too much attention to the animatronics - you liked the arcade much more - but Jeremy was quite entertained by them, so you would go with him watch their shows. His favorite was Bonnie. Everyone had a favorite animatronic. It was always an easy way to start conversations and make friends. If you had to pick, you suppose your favorite was Freddy. Freddy…

You didn’t notice you lost consciousness again until you realize a new animatronic is directly in front of your face - or rather Freddy’s face. It has a white mask with purple tear stains dripping from the eyes, rosy red cheeks, and a terrifying smile. You want it to get away from you, to leave, but it draws closer till its face it almost touching yours. You feel hands wrap around the side of your head, and its white eyes stare into yours. You try to move, to push back, but all you can muster is to turn your head from side to side. The whole time it stays attached, like it’s trying to read you, trying to stare into your soul. 

Then it's gone, like you took a breath and woke up in a different reality. You fall back, mind still racing to get away from the thing in the white mask. You moved, you’re able to move! You pant and rub an eye with one hand, then blink several times. In the corners of your eyes you can see the looming purple and yellow figures facing away from you, toward the seats. But they don’t catch your attention. What does, however, is a golden yellow bear standing at the edge of the stage, staring at you with hollow eyes. Gold...

...Golden bunny that lured you and your brother to the back room and killed him and made you watch. You draw your knees towards you and close your eyes tightly. When you open them a second later, the golden bear is gone. Did only a second pass? You let your legs slide out again as you untense. And then the purple bunny twitches to life along with the yellow chicken. 

The bunny takes a step back and almost trips. It catches itself, but backs up when it sees you and the chicken, who is holding its feathery hands in front of it to keep you at bay. The three of you silently eye each other, all with terrified looks. You stand slowly, keeping your hands out as if to steady the other two. 

“What’s going on here?” you ask calmly.

“I should ask you that!” the chicken accuses. 

The rabbit twitches an ear, “G-Gabriel?”

“Jeremy?” you practically shout. Red eyes. It clicks. Red eyes! It’s Jeremy! You rush over and hug him. The animatronic looks absolutely terrified for a split second, before hugging you back, clumsy clicking mechanical arms around your back. God, you never thought hugging your brother could feel so weird. You’re huge, and so is he, though not as tall as you. He wasn’t before, and he still isn’t now. 

The chicken looks between the two of you, confused. “What’s happening?” she asks, voice thick like she’s about to cry. She probably feels like the two of you know what’s going on and she’s out of the loop.

You let go of your younger brother. “I don’t know! I don’t know. But I look like Freddy?”

“You _are_ Freddy,” Chica replies. 

“And you’re Chica.”

The bird grows silent, nervously looking at her hand, then glancing around the pizzeria. 

“But my name is Susie!” she eventually replies.

“My name is Gabriel,” you introduce, “and this is my younger brother Jeremy. Are you…?” 

Memories are rushing back to you, and you wish they weren’t. A small room with a blonde girl being torn apart by a knife, being wielded by a tall man, as you ponded your fists on the attacker and begged for him to stop with hot tears in your eyes. You feel like your heart is racing, just like it was then, but you’re not sure you have one. Before that… before that you were locked in the room with the girl, along with your brother. Not long after a red headed boy was thrown in with you as well, and the four of you panicked and tried to get out of the locked room. That’s when the four of you first introduced yourselves. You had seen her around the party, and took note of her because she had a young yellow dog with her. Had the two of you not been locked in a room together, you probably never would’ve learned her name. But then a fifth and final child was thrown into the room with the rest of you and the nightmare began. 

“You’re… the girl with the dog,” you stammer, trying to shake the memory from your mind. You don’t want to think about that. You _don’t_ want to think about that!

“Y-yeah,” she stutters, seeming to realize the same thing as you. “You were the two brothers. And… and weren’t there… others?”

You look around the pizzeria, searching for anyone else. As you do so you hear a sniff from your left. You look over and Jeremy has tears running down his face. 

“I want to go home,” he cries, a sob shaking his body as he brings his big hands to his face. “I want Mama!” 

“Hey Jeremy, it’s okay,” you say and reach over to him, “you’re okay, I’m here.”

“I-I want to go home too,” the girl, Susie, begins crying as well. You’re not the best at comforting people, but you have to for your brother, and if this girl is in the same situation as you, you might as well help her too.

You grab her hand as well. “Don’t cry! We’ll be okay,” you say, though you can feel tears pricking at your own eyes. You can’t take seeing the only other people around you sad. You don’t even know how to deal with this situation yourself. But you need to be strong! Jeremy hugs you from your left, burying his face into your shoulder while he cries, while Susie clings to your right arm for comfort. “We’re gonna be okay, we’ll find a way to go home.”

“I’m sorry, but… I don’t think that’s possible. I’m so sorry,” a small voice comes from in front of the stage. It sounds so tiny, so fragile, like the words it says are going to drop and shatter on the floor. But the creature it comes from is the same figure from before with the white mask. You have no idea what to make of it. It sounds like another scared kid, like one of you, but the unmoving mask along with its black body look extremely menacing. You can’t place its voice either - a girl - but you don’t think it was the other girl in the room with you. But maybe it was? You can’t be sure, your mind is so fuzzy right now and you really want to remember the least you can about what happened. 

“Why can’t we go home,” you demand, “we want to go home!”

It flinches back a tiny bit before saying, “well… you’re like me now. We don’t look like ourselves.”

You glance the new animatronic up and down. Was... she the apparition that asked if you wanted to live? Is that where the voice is from? 

Before you can ask anything else, a purple curtain from a stage across the room begins to slowly reel to the side. It makes no sound, and a mechanical fox slowly pokes his face out and glances around nervously, eyes landing on the small striped being. The fox slides off the stage and silently onto the floor, approaching it from behind. It moves slowly, timidly, red hand gripping its hook, ears tucked back, and slouched so it appears smaller than it actually is. 

You think about saying something to the masked girl, to give her a heads up that someone is approaching from behind, but aren’t sure what to say. You just share nervous glances with the two animatronics clinging to your sides.

“Um, excuse me,” the fox whispers to the striped figure, “but you said we can’t go home? Do you know why we’re like this? How do we get back?”

The girl in the mask doesn’t move. She doesn’t even seem spooked that the fox kid snuck up behind her. Maybe she knew? After a few seconds, she slowly turns to face him. 

“You can’t go home. I’m so sorry. I wish I could help more. I… all I could do was help give you life in these suits after… after you were murdered. I’m so, _so_ sorry I couldn’t stop him, I-” she cuts off, becoming too choked up. She lifts a hand to her face while she tries to compose herself. 

Glittering paper stars hang from the ceiling of the dark pizzeria, catching whatever tiny light they can and reflecting it back off. The large room is so empty, and it makes you feel so small, despite your new giant body. There’s supposed to be people running around here, screaming and laughing and eating pizza with gloppy cheese hanging off of each slice. You never imagined what this place would look like after hours, and seeing it makes you feel scared. Some things start clicking into place in your mind. You were murdered. Yes, you know that, you remember that, but it doesn’t feel real. Everything that’s happening now feels so off, so odd, like you’re in a dream. You want so badly to wake up. You want to wake up! 

The fox looks so utterly scared from the girl’s words, his bushy tail tucked near his legs as he stares at her with wide, glossy eyes. 

“You helped us in these suits?” he asks. 

You’re not sure how exactly she played a part in it, but it would seem she did. She knows more than you do, and you want to know what she does so bad. There’s probably an answer in all of it, a way out, or at the very least, something that will wake you up from the nightmare you’re caught in. But the feeling of a brick connecting with your head over and over again till it was turned to mush was too real…

“I… I helped give you life, in a way,” the girl replies, “but I don’t think I could’ve done it if you didn’t have the will to continue in the first place. I’m not… I’m not too sure how I did it.” 

“The will to continue on? What’s that mean?” the fox asks.

You answer for her, “like, not wanting to die. Wanting to keep living, and being alive.” 

“And the anger,” she adds softly, “wanting answers… wanting more.”

 _Wanting revenge_ , you think, but you’re not sure why. You’ve never been a violent person, and yet… when that man, the man who wore the rabbit costume, was looming over these other kids, mutilating them, killing them… you were the only one to rise up and attack him back. It was a useless, pathetic display. You couldn’t do _anything_ . He shrugged off your punches like a lion flicking away a pesky fly. You were too small, too _weak_ . Nothing you did helped, not at all, and it made your death that much more painful. _But you still fought._ You look at your padded hand, now covered in brown fur. You open and close it, studying it like it's the most important thing in the world.

“But I’m not angry,” Susie cries, “I’m just sad and confused and… and hurt! I want to go home.”

“Me too,” Jeremy blubbers. 

The fox flicks his tail as silent tears roll down his snout. 

Are none of them angry like you? Why _are_ you so angry? You feel the same hatred in your core that you felt when fighting the man. But it’s over. So why doesn’t it go away? You don’t like it sitting there, it feels… wrong. 

“I’m sorry, you can’t,” the girl repeats, “I’ll do anything I can to help you here, though.”

The fox’s bottom lip sticks out as he looks to the three of you on stage huddled together. You think he wants to approach you guys and be hugged as well, but isn’t sure how to. He doesn’t know you, and you don’t know him. You don’t know the blonde girl - or, uh, the yellow chicken - at your side either, but you’re trying to comfort her as well. Might as well let him in. Though you won’t admit it, you could really use the hug right now as well. 

Before you can reach a hand out to him, the girl possessing the masked animatronic hesitantly places her hand on his shoulder. The second she makes contact, the fox grabs a hold of her and begins sobbing. She quickly grabs his hook to prevent it digging into her, then awkwardly lays an arm around his back, before resting her head on him, and you see tears drip from her mask.

This is so wrong, this is so wrong! You can’t take all these people crying. This shouldn’t be happening. It _can’t_ be. You’re dead now? Dead along with your brother and these other people. And you’re all in control of these animatronics? How is that even possible? It sounds like a kids story, a really scary story told to children to make sure they behave and don’t wander off with strangers at a pizzeria. But he wasn’t a stranger! He was Bonnie - Spring Bonnie! He worked there, he talked with kids, that was his job! He _was_ Spring Bonnie, not some man in a costume. But really… shouldn’t you have seen past that? You, of all people? You were supposed to protect your brother, but instead you got both of you killed. Your _job_ was to make sure this didn’t happen, and you failed it! 

“Where… where’s Cassidy?” Jeremy sniffs beside you. Cassidy? Oh, that was the other girl wasn’t it? And what was this boy’s name again, the one possessing the fox? Your brain just wants to call him Foxy, but you know that’s not actually his name. 

“Yeah, she was with us,” Susie mumbles, wiping her eyes, “did she… did she get away?”

The masked girl tenses at the question, and so do you. That girl, the one with the long dark braided hair - _you didn’t see her die_. You watched everyone else die, everyone else but her, who was huddled in the corner, staring with wide eyes, utterly frozen in fear. You don’t think you heard her make a peep the whole time as the other children were killed. Could she have gotten away? It doesn’t seem likely, she had nowhere to go, and no way to escape. Could the man have spared her? Could she have lived? Maybe she can tell her parents what she saw, make sure the man doesn’t get away with it. There’s no way he can get away with it. Killing five kids? And possibly this other girl with you? They’ll catch him, they will-

“No. I’m… I’m here,” comes a familiar voice from the back of the room. Out from the shadows steps a golden bear, the one you saw earlier. Any hope you had about her getting away is instantly crushed with it. If it wasn’t for her voice most certainly coming from the animatronic, you wouldn’t be able to recognise her. She’s so big now, nothing like the little girl who was trapped in the room with you. She stays near the back of the room, hesitant to come any closer and join the group. You’re almost positive she’s been there the whole time, listening, but didn’t want to come out. Did… did she wake up in her new body before you did? Is that why you saw her earlier? Or is your mind playing tricks on you? 

“Oh,” Susie says in the saddest, most broken voice you’ve ever heard. 

“Um, hey Fox?” you ask, “what did you say your name was again?”

“Oh, I’m Fritz,” he replies, still hugging the striped girl, but facing you now. “I don’t… I don’t know any of you. I wasn’t at your party.”

Oh, that was it! Both start with F’s. And _your_ party, the one you were at. In truth you weren’t really invited, but Cassidy’s parents were just nice enough to let anyone in the class bring their siblings, and that meant Jeremy got to make you tag along. Wait, Cassidy was- 

Your stomach sinks and you take your hand from Jeremy and bring it to your mouth. You feel like you’re going to vomit, but you don’t think you can. Instead, you let a wave of dizziness pass through you. _Cassidy was the birthday girl_.

The two next to you don’t seem to notice your subtle breakdown, but the girl with Fritz glances at you. “I wasn’t at the party either... not really. I’m Charlie.” You thank God that she didn’t call attention to you. “I… I died here awhile ago.”

“Was it… by the same man?” Fritz asks quietly.

She’s silent for a moment before whispering, “yes.” 

“Then why didn’t they stop him!” you shout. Everyone turns to you, startled by your sudden outburst. “If he killed you, why didn’t they catch him? Why’d they let him go and kill us too?” 

“I don’t know,” she says, voice cracking, and you see her start to tremble. “I don’t know.” 

You let out an exasperated “ _ugh!”_ before letting go of Susie as well and grabbing your head. You shut your eyes as tears run down your face. You sniff loudly and wipe at them. No, you can’t be crying! Everyone else is so sad and broken, you can’t be too! You need to be stronger than that, you’re not a wimp! 

Next to you, Jeremy and Susie hug you from each side, mumbling“it’s okay” and “it’s not our faults”. Cassidy draws closer to your bunch, slowly approaching Charlie and Fritz, though she doesn’t join in on their hug. Instead, she takes a seat at the table near them. You can’t read her expression, or tell what she’s thinking - not at all. She looks like someone just told her a loved one died, and she’s stuck with dread. 

“I just turned six,” the golden bear says. Your stomach flips. She was only six? You’re eight! Six is how old Jeremy is. Though, you suppose that makes sense - Jeremy was in the same class as Cassidy, and so was Susie. So the three of them must all be six, then? You hope Fritz and Charlie are older. You don’t want to be the responsible one here. 

“I’m seven,” Fritz says.

“I was seven too,” Charlie adds. 

“I’m six,” Jerermy chimes.

“Me too!” Susie states. 

You realize the five of them are looking at you. “I’m… eight,” you say after a moment. 

Susie wipes her beak, before saying to Cassidy, “you were one of the last people in our class to turn six.” 

The other bear nods slowly, staring at the table with white eyes. 

So, she’s the youngest. You really don’t want to be the oldest. You know saying your age just cemented your role here. All of them are going to look to you for what to do next. Well, unless Charlie has more information. She’s been here the longest, so maybe she’ll be in charge. You _can_ be in charge, you’re used to it, you always have to take care of Jeremy and your younger sister while your parents are at work. But this… this is different! You’re not just babysitting anymore. This is something else. 

“Charlie, how long ago did you die?” you ask. You really hope that doesn’t strike any nerves. 

Thankfully, the girl doesn’t seem taken aback by your question. She shrugs and says, “I’m not really sure. It’s… so hard to tell time here all by myself.”

“You died alone?” Fritz asks, and she nods. The way it’s phrased sounds lonely, but you wish you died alone, if you’re being honest. Watching the other three die before you was something hellish that you’ll never be able to explain. You’re just grateful that Susie didn’t have to witness the pain you and the others did. Maybe in a sick way it was a blessing for her that she was killed first. 

“At least… there’s not more of us here, then” Fritz tries to comfort, but it’s a sad attempt at it. 

“I’m sorry I keep asking questions, but do you know the date you died?” you ask her, “I think it was around May 20th when we were at the party.”

“May 21st,” Cassidy corrects, voice hollow, “it was Saturday.” 

You inhale sharply, though you don’t think you need the breath. You should’ve been more careful before saying the date. You weren’t thinking. 

“Sorry,” you apologize. 

Cassidy just shrugs her shoulders, still staring off into space. 

“Oh,” Charlie says a bit stricken, “It’s… it’s been a few months. I died in March. I can’t… remember the date.” 

An awful thought crosses your mind. 

“Of this year?” you ask, “it’s 1983.”

The girl shakes terribly, before letting out an audible breath, “yes,” she quavers, placing a hand over her heart, “yes, oh my gosh don’t scare me like that.” 

You let out a nervous laugh and apologize. 

“Did we all do introductions, then? Does everyone know each other’s names?” you ask, looking towards Cassidy.

She glances over and nods, “yeah, I heard everything.”

You silently wonder why she didn’t come out sooner, if she’s been here the whole time. You decide not to say anything though. You also have several more questions for Charlie, but you’ll hold off on that for now. 

“Do you… do you all want a tour of the place?” Charlie asks, “since… you’re going to be here now.” 

On stage the three of you recoil a bit at her words, while Fritz frowns.

“Isn’t there a way to get help?” he asks, “Can’t someone help us?”

“I’ve… tried. But everyone is so… scared of me. And I don’t even want to be seen like this in the first place. I don’t… I don’t want my dad to know I’m stuck like this now,” she whimpers. Fritz awkwardly pats Charlie’s head. 

You hadn’t even thought of that. Would your parents want to see you now? Now that you’re a six foot bear? Shouldn’t they? You’re still their little boy… but how do you even explain what happened to you? You probably wouldn’t be able to go to school, or go to the park, or ride your bike, or eat cookies... You could be home schooled, maybe? But then what? Get a job doing what? Actually, you think you’d be better at a lot of things now that you’re this big. You’re probably really powerful! But no one would want to hire a bear… 

“My dad would still want to see me,” Susie says defensively, “he’d still want to know I’m okay!”

“Even if we’re different now, our family would still want to see us,” Jeremy agrees, “and maybe they can help us out. Figure out a way for everything to be alright.”

“I agree, we should try finding help,” you say, standing up. You don’t know what to do in this situation, so you should find someone who does. 

Charlie shrugs, “do what you want.”

“Where can we find somewhere who works here?”

“I… I don’t know. You might need to wait till morning. There’s lots of people during the day, though, you might scare them.”

“Do workers come before this place opens? Or stay after?”

“Yes. And sometimes workers come at night… but so does he. Be careful… the man who killed us works here. He owns the place.”

Dread shoots through your heart. Suddenly things start making sense. Why Charlie is still here, why she hasn’t gotten help yet, why you never heard about her murder in the first place, and why he got away with it. _Why he’s going to be able to get away with yours._

“No, he’s going to cover up our deaths! He’s going to get away with this!” you shout.

“Yes,” Charlie says very quietly. 

“We can’t let him do that!” you say jumping off the stage.

“Gabriel,” Jeremy calls.

“We can’t let him get away with this! I _won’t_ let him get away with this!”

“I already said I’ll help anyway I can. I don’t know what to do anymore than you do.”

“But you’ve been here longer! You _must_ know something.”

The girl shrugs and wraps her arms around herself. Okay, okay, you don’t want to stress her out. 

You sigh, “alright, it’s okay, we’ll figure something out.” 

You look around the room at the others. Cassidy is still sitting at the table, hands in her lap, staring down at the plastic covering it, her eyes not really seeming to see anything. Fritz begins slowly walking away from Charlie, pacing the aisle between the tables with his head hung low. Jeremy has his knees tucked to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. His head lays on his knees and you can see his shoulders shaking. Susie is pressed against him, covering her face with her feathered hands. 

You take a deep breath. “Okay,” you say, “let’s have a look around the place. Maybe we’ll find something useful. Charlie, did you want to show us around?”

She looks up and nods. “If you want me to.”

“Yes, please,” you say and wave your hand, gesturing to the uncharted pizzeria, “Let’s all go. Come on, Jeremy.”

The rabbit looks up and wipes his eyes, and you reach out a hand and help him off stage. You offer it to Susie after, and help her down as well. You need to distract these guys. You hate seeing all the tears, and who knows, maybe being in an arcade after dark will even be fun! If you were still alive, that seems like something you’d like to do. You just need to pretend you weren’t murdered, just for a little bit, just long enough to form a plan on what to do next. 

Charlie begins leading the way out of the room, but you’re startled as soon as she moves. Her feet levitate off the ground and she floats above the checkered tiles. She’s not hovering more than a foot, but it still unnerves you. You’re not the only one taken aback by this, as the others are staring as well (apart from Cassidy.) When she notices you aren’t following, she turns around. As soon as she sees your expressions, she immediately falls back to the ground, seeming embarrassed. 

“Sorry.”

“Uh, it’s fine, I just-” you stammer.

“That’s pretty cool,” Susie interrupts. 

“...Thanks,” she says, ducking her head a bit. Despite the reassurance, Charlie walks the rest of the way out of the room, with you close behind, holding Jeremy’s hand. Susie stays practically on top of you guys, while Fritz keeps distant. Cassidy… stays where she is.

“Cassidy?” you turn and call, “are you coming with us?”

At the table, she slowly shakes her head, not even bothering to look at you. 

“I think it’d be good if we all went,” you say.

“ _Don’t_ ,” Charlie whispers, like she doesn’t want the other girl to hear, though she’s definitely in range. “I talked to her before you woke up. She’ll be okay, just leave her be.”

So she did awake before you. Why? Didn’t she die last? You wonder what the two of them talked about. Probably everything you already went over - the golden bear didn’t seem phased by anything said. You just nod and carry on. 

On the tour, you’re surprised to learn you already know most of the place. Some parts are familiar to you - the arcade, the play areas, the party rooms, and the stage. However, the back rooms, like the storage, parts and service, repair rooms, and kitchen aren’t _unfamiliar_ to you either. It’s like you know this place, and not just from being lured to the back. You’ve never seen some of these rooms, never knew they existed, and yet… you _know_ them. _You have memories of them_. Maybe you’re imagining things? Maybe it’s deja vu? 

The arcade and play areas look very different at night, and it’s much easier to navigate and see everything without a crowd. You feel like you’re in your own little world. You could easily spend hours here playing games in peace. It’s like every kid’s dream to be here at night with the whole place to themself. No parents, just adventure and video games! You want so badly to pretend that’s all you’re doing right now. You just snuck out at night with some friends. Maybe you’re all dressed like the Freddy Fazbear characters because it’s Halloween. That’s it! You’re just… having a fun Halloween night! But Halloween is also horror, so… it all wraps around to the back room. You can’t shake the memories of being murdered - you just can’t. But you can try to get the other’s to forget.

“Hey Jeremy, we can play Street Fighters together now with no one breathing down our backs for their turn,” you say.

The purple rabbit’s ears perk up at this. 

“Oh! Yeah, that’d be so fun!” he says, “we can play all the arcade games we want now!”

“See, it’s not so bad being here. We can have this whole place to ourselves now! No adults to tell us what we can and can’t do. And- and not just the arcade! We can play on all the other things too. Well, maybe not - I don’t think I can fit into the tubes - but you know what I mean!” 

Fritz eyes widen in realization, “I can finally go into the ball pit,” he breathes. 

“You’ve never been in the ball pit?” Susie asks.

“No, my parents wouldn’t let me. Said it was full of germs.” 

“Lame! We should go in it right now then!”

“Now?” Fritz says, looking to the rest of you. 

“That’s fine, I can show you around more later, or you can explore the place on your own,” Charlie shrugs. 

Jeremy tugs on your arm and asks, “can we go to the ball pit too, Gabe?” 

“Why don’t you go ahead with Susie and Fritz? I want to look around more.” You’re glad the others are starting to perk up, but you don’t want to go play around yet yourself. You actually do want to finish looking around, and learn more about this place. You feel like you’re missing something, or you can find something that will help you. 

Jeremy frowns, “please Gabriel, I want you to come with us!”

You pat his head. “You’ll be fine, the others will be with you. I’m the oldest so… I should try to come up with a way out of this. You should go play!”

“Come on with us, Jeremy!” Susie encourages, while Fritz nods along. 

“Ah! I guess I will. Just don’t go anywhere by yourself, please,” Jeremy cautions. 

“I’m supposed to tell you that,” you laugh. 

“Wait, what if… what if that man is still around?” Fritz asks in a quiet voice. 

The air seems to chill at the mention of him, and you swear you can feel yourself grow cold, both physically and emotionally. 

“We’re bigger now,” you say very slowly, very carefully. “Fight back. Use that hook you have there.”

Fritz looks down at it, seeming to forget it’s there. 

“He probably doesn’t know we’re here anyways,” you continue, “he wouldn’t expect us to come back. He won’t be looking for us if he thinks we’re dead. You’ll be safe. Robots can’t die. We should have fun here, if we can. Try not to let him ruin this.” The other’s eyes are glued on you. Everyone is looking at you so expectantly, waiting for your words. You put a hand on your brother’s shoulder. “And, Jeremy, if you ever feel scared, or threatened, come talk to me. I’m here for you.” You then glance around at each of the other children - animatronics - in your presence. “All of you.”

“Okay,” Jeremy sniffs. Oh, you didn’t mean to make him cry again. 

“It’s alright, just go have fun.”

“Aye,” Fritz says, “we’ll be careful.” 

“Yup,” Susie says, coming and grabbing Jeremy’s hand, “everything will be fine! Now let’s go show Fritz the ball pit. You’ve been in the ball pit, right?”

“Of course!”

The chicken laughs, and the three of them banter while they take off. 

_Just don’t go anywhere by yourself,_ you think. You look over to Charlie, who still stands there. You should stick with her, then. You weren’t expecting her to go with the others, but she doesn’t acknowledge you either. 

“You’re wrong,” she says plainly, matter-of-factly, in her soft voice.

“What?” you blink.

“He might expect you to come back. He probably knows you’re not really dead. He knows _I’m_ not really dead.”

“Then why didn’t you say anything!” you say, raising your voice. 

“Because it won’t do anything besides panic the others. Everything else you said is true. He’s not going to want to come back here if there’s six of us after him.” 

You consider this. You could probably take that man in a fight now. You’re probably as big as him! You _want_ a rematch. You’re so extremely terrified of him still, but you want to punch him again, to have it actually _do_ something this time. You think you can win, as long as you don’t freeze up. But the others… don’t seem to have your thirst for vengeance. Okay, maybe you won’t seek a fight, but if it comes down to it, you _will_ be able to protect them this time. There’s secrets here, you’re sure of it, you just need to find them. You feel like things are being held back from you, and you have so many questions. You’re certain Charlie can answer at least a few of them, and maybe that Cassidy girl, too. But you shouldn’t panic the others - Charlie is right about that. You just need to lay low, and figure out what’s going on. And when you do, you’ll make the purple man feel the same pain that you and your friends did. 

**Author's Note:**

> Don't ask me how robot's cry I just wanted to write with more feeling lol. I always image them in more of a Don Bluth type situation, not cold and metallic, though it would probably be good for me to practice writing that as well. I just prefer to write things with more human characteristics. 
> 
> I'm thinking of continuing this and making multiple chapters (even if it skips some time) so if you'd like that let me know!
> 
> My art blog is marionettedraws.tumblr.com where you're welcome to ask the characters questions! I'll probably set up a DA soon as well. (Been busy with Art Fight this month so I wasn't sure I'd get anything out lol.)


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